The win set the stage for next weekend's showdown at Hawaii that
will decide the WAC title and a possible BCS berth.

Hawaii, which rallied to beat Nevada on Friday to remain
unbeaten, is trying to end Boise State's run of five consecutive
WAC crowns.

"It is the game that we circled at the beginning of the year as
one that we knew was going to be a tough one," Tharp said. "It
comes down to our deal and not worrying about Hawaii."

Boise State (10-1, 7-0 WAC) posted its 17th straight victory in
conference play and has reeled off nine straight wins since a
24-10 loss at Washington on September 8.

"Everything kind of just comes together and it's been coming
together for a few weeks, so we just have to keep on that path
and I think we will be fine," Tharp added.

Averaging nearly 50 points during the winning streak, the
Broncos pulled away in the second half against the Vandals
(1-10, 0-7), who kept it close for most of the first half.

"We keep getting told by coach (Chris) Pete (Peterson) and
everybody that we have to be a second-half team," Tharp said.
"No matter what, we have to come out of the locker room, play
like the score is 0-0 and be a second-half team. We did that
tonight."

Idaho closed within 17-14 on Eddie Williams' three-yard
touchdown run with 3:10 remaining in the half.

But Boise State answered on Tharp's 10-yard TD pass to Austin
Pettis with 35 seconds left in the second quarter.

Leading 24-14 at the intermission, Boise State broke it open
with 21 straight points in the third quarter, then tacked on 13
more in the final period.

"To those (Boise State) kids' credit, they came out and played
harder than they did in the first half and that was pleasing to
see," said Peterson, who is 23-1 in his two years at Boise
State.

In the third quarter, Tharp, who completed 22-of-31 passes,
tossed TD strikes of five yards to Pettis and 58 yards to Titus
Young. Ian Johnson added a 15-yard run with 2:12 left in the
period to make it 45-14.

Johnson rushed for 109 yards and two scores on 21 carries, while
Pettis had eight receptions for 139 yards and three TDs.

Backup Bush Hamdan threw two TDs in the fourth quarter for Boise
State, including a 17-yard scoring strike to Pettis.

Boise State gained 556 total yards en route to its ninth
straight win over Idaho.

"We didn't want to be the senior class that lets everybody
down," Boise State safety Marty Tadman said. "We wanted to keep
the tradition going, especially against Idaho, so it was a very
important game for our seniors."

Nathan Enderle completed just 8-of-23 passes for 182 yards for
the Vandals.